With
just one win all season so far and a lowly total fo five points,
Sunderland reach White Hart Lane looking for some shelter in the
wintry chill. Perhaps THFC might not be so charitable this time
around, as in previous years, they could be relied on to give succour
to any down and out who stumbled along with a terrible list of
results. A more hard-bitten approach has taken precedent these
days

The make-up of the
Sunderland side has been disrupted by injuries this season and the
large number o of players coming into the squad in the summer to boost
the ability to stay up was nto of the highest quality, thus leaving
the team a difficult task to compete.

Kelvin Davies excelled
in the Championship with Ipswich and is a good keeper, but a few
horrendous performances have seen him overlooked with Ben Alnwick
coming in even though he is just 18. It has been a tough
baptism for him, with Arsenal and Liverpool seeing off the Black Cats
in recent weeks, but he will learn quickly.

The defence has been
leaking goals with 30 in their 15 games so far. Loan Gooner
Justin Hoyte has been a regular and looks a decent player, but he is
still feeling his way at the top level, having had little experience
at Lowbury and with Stephen Wright out injured, the defence has seen
Steve Caldwell take the other full back role, when Nyron Nosworthy
hasn't been there. George McCartney has had Premiership
experience last tiome Sunderland were there, even though it might nto
be a pleasant memory, but his long term hamstring injury has robbed
the side of an older head. Two old heads are still there though,
with Gary Breen and Alan Stubbs partners in central defence, where
they use their knowledge and their heads, but lack pace. Danny
Collins has come in recently, but I do not know much about him.
Julio Arca looks the best Sunderland player by a country mile.
His South American skill has demonstrated itself from open play on the
wing and also from dead ball situations.

Nosworthy was looked at
by Tottenham a few seasons back when he was a promising youngster, but
he lacks the finesse and nous to know where he has to be to make it in
the top flight at the moment. Being utilised in midfield makes
things worse for him, as the ball pings around him. At least in
defence, the ball comes to him rather than around him. French
midfielder Christian Basillas is a classy operator, but gets little
opportunity to show it and he fades out of the game quite quickly and
alongside him Liam Lawrence is a fan's favourite, but that might have
more to do with his dyed blonde hairdo rather than his ability with
the ball. Andrew Welsh looks out of his depth in the games I
have seen him play on TV. Sent off and lacking the reading of
the game to pick up it's pace, he looks like a fish out of water,
while Tommy Miller has made the step up from Ipswich with forceful
running from midfield, although, again, he has not been as effective
as he was at his previous club.

Dean Whitehead is
listed as an attacking midfielder, but quite often is ahead of the
forwards, so might be a threat on goal if Sunderland get their game
going. A strong runner with the ball, he also has a good sense
of position as to where the goal is and he has scored some of the few
goals Sunderland have got. Great hopes were had of Stephen
Elliot, but his injury has held him back, although another nippy
player who can hit the target unerringly. Jon Stead came in from
Blackburn, having been unable to maintain the reputation he arrived at
Ewood Park with and his form has shown him to be lacking confidence
here too. Tall and possessing a turn of pace, he lacks the
strength to hold off Premiership defenders. Anthony Le Tallec is
the opposite and his time at Liverpool has given him the poise and
determination to do well. He could give Spurs problems, but on
his own, he will have a tricky time trying to make something happen
alone. In the absence of the big Scotsman Kevin Kyle, Sunderland
brought in Sheffield United's Andy Gray, who was a useful scorer in
the Championship. His movement and power were put to good use
there, but with defenders up against him who have a bit more savvy, he
has also found the upgrade to the PL a hard one to assimilate.

Spurs will set out to
push hard for the opening passage of the game, so need to make sure
they do not leave themselves open to a counter attack, as Sunderland
will look to play that way. With the range of midfielders
available to Spurs, they should dominate this area of the game and get
plenty of supply into Mido and Defoe, who I believe will start ... and
get a goal to kick start a revival for the little striker. Wayne
Routledge's presence will also be made to count and his running with
and off the ball can unsettle any side with Sunderland being cut open
with his pace. All in all, it should be a comfortable afternoon
for Tottenham ...

PREDICTION : -
Tottenham Hotspur 3 Sunderland 0

For more information on
the opponents and their history, including full result history of
matches between the two teams, click here.

Back in the day, it would have been a
lack of points that caused us to moan on our way out of the ground,
but these days it is the minutiae that take our attention as we
dissect the way Spurs have beaten Sunderland 3-2. The two goals
conceded were the main talking points that vexed the Tottenham
supporters as Arsenal lost and our team finished the day in fourth
place in the Premiership.

With
Sunderland patently out of their depth in the PL, they were lambs
delivered to White Hart Lane for the slaughter. As often
happens, the script was not followed word for word by our guests and
they took the lead after 16 minutes. A bump into Dawson by Stead
brought an unnecessary whistle from referee Walton and a free-kick,
placed centrally, was awarded 25 yards out. Up stepped Whitehead
and curled a shot into the top right hand corner of Robinson's goal
that was well out of his reach.

Before
this, there had been some old fashioned scrambling in front of the
Sunderland goal, with rebounds and ricochets leaving desperate
clearances pinging around the Black Cats' box, but they managed to
hack clear in the end. Keano missed a pull back by Mido and the
Egyptian headed over a cross from the hard-working Tainio. It
looked like the missed opportunities might end up costing us once
more, even more so when Keane got the ball caught up under his feet
when going to hit Lee's low cross and the chance went begging.

It
was apparent that Spurs were going to have plenty of possession, with
the final stats showing 61%, but the ability to break down a massed
Sunderland defence was proving problematical. Spurs were having
to get players out wide, with neither Davids or Tainio natural wingers
and Lee and Stalteri not delivering the quality of cross required when
they got forward. Jenas had a disappointing game, being
caught on the ball often and lacking sustained involvement in the
play.

In the 37th minute, a neat build up on
the right ended with a Spurs equaliser. A great reverse pass by
Stalteri played in Keane on the right of the area, where he hit a low
ball across the face of goal for Mido to slide in at the far post to
record his sixth Premiership goal of the season with a shot into the
roof of the net. It was a simply created goal and one Spurs
might have learned from, because up to this point they seemed
determined to walk the ball into the net.

The
tall striker headed over from a Carrick corner shortly afterwards, but
he might have done better, then Robbie Keane was played in on the
right side again from where he produced a chip that Alnwick managed to
save. Sunderland's lack of cutting edge and poor passing was
allowing Tottenham's generosity with the ball to go unpunished, so
when the teams ended the first half all square, the score did not
reflect either side's performance.

The
second half started with Spurs taking the lead after five minutes had
elapsed. A long ball through was flicked on by Mido's head and
Keane ran on as Alnwick and Collins dithered with the ball between
them. As Robbie fell, the ball squirted off towards goal and a
hand going down to stop his fall appeared to propel the ball into the
goal. Scrappy it was, but the lack of communication between the
young Sunderland keeper and his defence was evident with neither
making a positive move to the ball on more than one occasion. It
is a shame that Tottenham failed to test the abilities of the keeper
on more occasions, as he looked lacking in confidence throughout the
match.

The lead lasted only nine
minutes in all, with the substitute Le Tallec coming on after Keane's
goal pulling it back to 2-2. Gray was continually pulling King's
shirt off his back, with the match official refusing to give anything
against him while having a clear view almost every time it
happened. So, when Gray backed into King again and the ball
dropped on the edge of the box, the French striker on loan from
Liverpool swept it low past Robbo's dive.

The
way this game was going, it was straight up the other end and Paul
Stalteri knocked a waist high ball into the penalty area, where Teemu
Tainio dived to head the ball against the far post. For his
performance, the Finn deserved a goal and when a free-kick was touched
square to him, his shot was charged down and got a deflection
wide. Spurs pressed forwards and Sunderland could not break the
flow of the game, as the ball kept being turned over to the home
side. With Aaron Lennon on to add pace and width to the right
hand side, Spurs started making more of the ball.

When
it was played to Robbie on the edge of the area, the Irishman flicked
the ball up to get past Breen, but the Sunderland captain held his arm
taught at his side and the ref gave a penalty. Keano decided to
take it himself, despite Davids demanding the ball, Robbie took the
spot-kick and put it to the keeper's right, only to see Alnwick guess
correctly and push the ball wide. Once more Spurs failed to take
the luck that came their way at last.

Another
attack saw Mido play the ball wide and Lennon hit the ball into the
near post, where it bounced off a defender and dropped to Dawson,
who's effort on goal was blocked and went into the side netting.
Jermain Defoe came on to replace Keane after 74 minutes and three
minutes, Spurs took the lead for the second time in the match. A
corner came in and when cleared to Tainio outside the box, he hooked
it wide to Carrick near the corner of the area. The England
midfielder took the ball on, as there was no defender near him and
looking up, he stroked a left foot shot that went across the keeper
and past two defenders on the line to enter the net via the foot of
the far post. He enjoyed his first goal for the club and raced
across to the West Stand to celebrate.

There
were other incidents of note before the final whistle.
Sunderland looked stunned when Carrick's goal went in and their
reaction at the end of the match, with players standing hands on
thighs, heads hung low, made it seem like they had lost a cup final or
had resigned themselves to relegation.

For
Spurs, Tainio turned in a man of the match performance with tackling,
movement and no mean skill on the ball. If only his header had
been a foot inside the post, he would have had a dream match.
Lennon seemed to pick the side up when he made his entrance, running
the right hand line and putting some good supply into the area, while
Dawson was excellent once more. The team seem to be coming on
nicely and the resilience to earn points from games like this where
one time they would have gone under means that they might look forward
with confidence, but not over-confidence to the programme up until
Christmas.